Lost Cause Diaries 4: The Humbling of Violet Gray
by HPDrummerman
Summary: Violet finally makes friends with the other kids after transferring schools. She finally realizes that her cruel behavior back in her old town may have cost her any lasting friendships to fall back on, with the exception of Patty.
1. Chapter 1

Lost Cause Diaries #4: The Humbling of Violet Gray

**CHAPTER 1: VIOLET MAKES NEW FRIENDS**

In the years since she and her parents moved to California, Violet had changed completely. She went from a snobby girl who was judgmental, to a girl who was being judged. She went from being a bully to the one being bullied. And who was her tormentor? Her nemesis from Day 1, Angie Monroe. As the years went on, Angie would shoot out the same verbal attack on Violet that she did on Charlie Brown years earlier. And, as a result, Violet's self-esteem was at an all-time low. The only person she talked to about it was Patty, who she kept in contact with. As a result, Patty also started changing how she acted towards Charlie Brown and others, and started being nicer to them, herself. But Violet had very few people to talk to about her problems in California.

But one even more cruel prank was done to her not by Angie directly, but someone associated with her. It was something Violet herself would have never done to anyone; not even Charlie Brown. A boy who seemed interested in her started talking to her around 8th grade. This guy was one the girls had a huge crush on. And then Violet was the one he seemingly picked to go out with. At first he took her out on dates and to the movies, which were innocent enough. But then the boy, named Gregory, asked Violet if she would like to go to a party on a Saturday night, which Violet agreed to. So the night of the party came, and Violet and Gregory walked in together. She was shocked to see Angie and her friends there, as well, but Gregory said to ignore them as this was her night and not theirs. Well, Violet's suspicions proved correct as the party they went to was an "Ugly Girl Party" to see which guy had the ugliest date. Angie said that Violet was way too homely-looking to even win THAT kind of contest, let alone a beauty contest. She ran away running home crying. While her father Grant was sympathetic to what happened and was ready to kill those kids who did that to his baby girl, Kathleen, Violet's mother, still felt like Violet was getting what she deserved as punishment for how she acted back in Sparkyville towards Charlie Brown and others. But what Kathleen failed to put into account was that version of her daughter was long gone and a former shell of that girl was what existed now. Kathleen's indifference to the even worse attack of her daughter was the final straw for Grant. After packing some clothes and gathering his work, he and Violet went to a hotel to stay until they found a place of their own. Eventually Grant found another apartment far away from the schools Violet was going to.

Now divorced from Kathleen and having full custody of Violet, Grant wanted to make sure his daughter had the best environment for a girl to be in. She was starting high school, but it would be world's away from the jokers of her old junior high school; a fresh start and a clean slate. But before he and Violet left, he talked to the parents of those students, including Angie's and Gregory's, about the abuse they heaped on his daughter and he went to the principal about the "Ugly Girl Party". Some justice was served as Angie and her friends had to serve detention for the rest of the school year, and Gregory's parents pulled their son out of school and sent him away to a reform school for boys. In addition, Angie was not to have any contact with Violet for the rest of the school year as a result. But with them being in a new neighborhood, Violet would not have to deal with Angie Monroe ever again.

As high school began, Violet was nervous. What if these kids were even worse than Angie was? Would she be able to make friends finally? She went to her first classroom, not talking to anyone. If she was going to be an outcast, it was better if she blended into the background and not even noticed in her mind. But fate had other plans. A really pretty girl came walking up and sat right next to Violet, who just looked down and didn't say anything.

"Hello," the girl said.

"Hi," said Violet, meekly.

"You're new here, aren't you?" asked the girl. Here we go again, Violet thought to herself.

"Yeah," said Violet, cautiously.

"Cool," said the girl, with a smile. "My name's Julia. Julia Robinson. What's yours?"

"Violet. Violet Gray."

"Nice to meet you, Violet," said Julia. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm a frosh myself."

"You're a freshmen?"

"Yep. I know I don't look like it, but I am. So where are you from originally?"

"I just left the north side of LA. I am originally from a town called Sparkyville. But I've lived here for three years now."

"That's cool. I pretty much lived here all my life."

And Violet and Julia got to know each other well. Julia was down-to-earth and not superficial like Angie was at her old school. Violet was finally making her first friend in California.

**NEXT CHAPTER: GRANT AND KATHLEEN'S MEETING**


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2: AN UNEASY MEETING**

After he got off work, Grant was walking to his car when he spotted his now ex-wife standing next to it. He was wondering what Kathleen wanted. After getting custody of Violet, Grant made it Violet's decision if she wanted to see her mother. Violet had chosen not to. While Kathleen's tactics did work in helping in humbling Violet so she wasn't so snobby anymore, she also took it too far when her daughter had actual issues at school and dismissed them as Violet being bratty. No wonder Violet turned out the way she did. Maybe her snotty attitude was a cry for attention, Grant had though to himself. But for now, he wondered what his ex-wife wanted.

"Kat," he greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk, Grant," she said, not missing a beat. "About Violet."

"What about her?"

"Don't play dumb with me! It's been months since I've last seen my daughter. I know you have primary custody, but I do have a right to see my daughter."

"And I agree with you. Only, the thing is, I made it up to Violet if she wanted to see you or not. And she chose the latter. Violet doesn't want anything to do with you, Kat. This isn't me talking, not did I influence her decision. But can you blame her? I get what you were trying to do. You were trying to humble our daughter so we didn't have a repeat of Sparkyville. And it worked. Violet is no longer that girl. But then you started to take it too far and not even acknowledge real problems she was having. Did you know she almost became suicidal as a result of that so-called 'Ugly Girl Party'?!"

"Oh no! I had no idea!"

"Of course you didn't! You just dismissed it as Violet shedding crocodile tears. I was actually relieved that she didn't need any counseling as a result of the abuse those bastard kids put on her. But you took an otherwise good approach and took it way too far by ignoring her altogether. And that's why she doesn't want to see you or talk to you. You were as bad as those damned kids, Kat. Maybe even worse being her mother."

Kathleen now saw the ramifications of her own acts towards Violet. She was no better that she was in Sparkyville. While she would never tease anyone, when she tried to make Violet see what she was doing back in their old town, she also made her own mistakes by ignoring her problems.

"When you see her, tell her I'm sorry," said Kathleen, looking down.

"I'll relay the message," said Grant. "But this doesn't mean she'll want to see you all of the sudden. You'll have to be prepared to accept that." And Kathleen left and went back to her home. Grant then took off for his home as well.

Violet was getting to know her new friend Julia. She was one of the nicest girls in the school and she never judged anyone on their appearance. Violet also got to know Julia's other friends, as well. They were all friendly and non-judgmental like the kids at her previous school. Violet was in debt to Angie Monroe, though. She figured because of Angie, she saw for the first time how she was acting back in Sparkyville towards Charlie Brown and others. And it actually humbled her. She wasn't the same Violet Gray that she was before.

**THE END OF #4**

_**NEXT TIME, #5: THE OREO INCIDENT**_

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **__This one was shorter, as I had not too much for it. These stories will be a various lengths and sometimes they'll be only a couple chapters long, like this one._


End file.
